FRENCH OVERSEAS

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 September 1940, Page 7

FRENCH OVERSEAS

UNREST IN SYRIA ITALIAN DEMANDS REFUSED [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT:] LONDON, September 19.

r The Cairo correspondent of “The r Times” says that more news of un--1 rest comes from the-stronghold of . France’s Syrian Army. [ Italian agents at three divisional r headquarters were instructed to make ! an inventory of French Army equip- ’ ment. Although this was the obvious prelude to the dismantling and seizure of guns, tanks, ammunition, lorries and aeroplanes, the two senior French delegates on the Armistic Commission I consented, but the junior officers and men are resisting. French regulars at the chief training base are taking their rifles to their tents at night time and strangers have been ordered from the camp. Similai’ happenings occurred at a base where the Italians were trying to secure the modern Glenn-Martin bombers. . 4 The crews of two French submarines at Beirut are stubbornly staying aboard, grimly awaiting the moment when they may be asked to come off. .Syrian soldiers at the camp of the Camel Corps near Damascus refused to give up their camels and ammunition. They are reported to have buried the ammunition in the mountains, setting a delicate and dangerous problem for the Italian agents endeavouring to rot the French Army from within. The Italians fear resistance as well as sabotage. The attitude of the French soldier • can be summed up as: “We have the , guns. What are you going to do about ] ■ it?” The Syrians say:.“France is only j the Mandatory here. She has no ; right to hand us over to Italy.” ] • 1 PROTECTORATE OFFER. c

LONDON, September 20. Reports reaching Madrid from '■ Morocco indicate tense expectancy through French North Africa, where a decision to accept the offer of British protection is expected daily. The Madrid correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that General Verget, the newly-appointed French Resident-General in North Africa, is having great difficulty in handling the situation. There have been wholesale arrests of army officers and civil servants, which apparently haVe been carried out reluctantly in face of popular opposition and widespread sympathy for General de Gaulle. AXIS PROPAGANDA. RUGBY, September 20. While it is true there is considerable opposition in French North Africa to the Vichy Government, stories emanating largely from GermanItalian sources, stressing the likelihood of revolt in Morocco, in favour of General de Gaulle, are regarded with suspicion in official circles in London. Their object is believed to be to influence Spain to make a move. Allegations that Britain is fomenting trouble in Morocco are without foundation. | WARSHIPS’ MISSION. | LONDON,-September 20. The Foreign Minister of the Vichy Government (M. Baudouin) said that Britain had been notified before the six French warships left the Mediterranean on September 14, for Dakar. The warships passed Gibraltar without a single gun being fired. Not the slightest attempt was made to impede their passage. The mission of the warships, he said, was the support and preservation of the French Empire against the British efforts to provoke unrest. France would employ all the force permissible under the armistice to assure the integrity of the Colonial Empire against provocations. He added that the French would reach a military, political, and econ- J omic agreement with Japan, preserv- ' ing French sovereignty in IndoChina, but giving Japan privileges. He added that France owed loyalty to her former enemies besides the scrupulous execution of the armistice, which had been drafted honourably.

VICHY, September 20. The French warships reaching Dakar are not bound for Indo-China, but are remaining at Dakar. “OCCUPATION” PAYMENTS. RUGBY, September 19. The French “Journal Official” of September 14, publishes a law authorising the opening of a special account for maintenance costs for the German army of occupation. The German Government has fixed this figure at 20,000,000 Reichsmarks a day. This is the figure which, under the terms of the armistice, France has to pay, irrespective of any demands by Italy, or of what reparations Herr Hitler may consider imposing at the peace treaty.’ Thus ' Germay is asking 7,300,000,000 Reichsmarks a year from France.

In this connection it is recalled in a statement issued by the British Foreign Office that under the “Paris decisions” of January, 1921, reparations were fixed at 2,000,000,000 marks a year. Actually the total paid by Germany amounted to 17,000,000,000. ■While the sums now demanded by Germany and those she was asked to pay in reparations in 1919 cannot very fruitfully be compared because of the change'in the'real'value of the mark to-day as against 1919, it can be reckoned that, leaving ‘requisitioning and payments in kind out of the question, France, a territory with about onethirtieth the paying power of 1919 Germany, has to pay a sum three times the actual maximum annuity, ever fixed under the Dawes plan. The correspondent of the “Daily Express” on the French-Spanish frontier says the Germans have collected more than £ 1,000,000 in fines imposed on the impoverished municipalities of western France for attempts to impede the German army. Brest paid £lOO,OOO, Bordeaux £90,000, and Paris nearly £200,000. NEW CALEDONIA. RUGBY, September 20. The Ministry of Information states: The news-that New Caledonia has rallied to General de Gaulle is confirmed. The new ; Governor, M. Sautot, has arrived at Noumea on board a French ship, and has taken over the Government, in accordance with the instructions given to him. With re-

gard to Lieutenant-Colonel Denis, the Governor nominated by Vichy, lie had to give way to the pressure of several thousand supporters of J the cause of the free French forces. One can; therefore, say that the rallying of New Caledonia is the result of a spontaneous movement on the part of the population.